The job advertisements were too enticing to scroll past — marketing and administration roles at a lavish casino in Cambodia, with high salaries and paid accommodation.
For Nokyoong, a 26-year-old Thai single mother of three, and her cousin Neung, 40, it seemed like an incredible opportunity to make money for their family.
As soon as they saw the ads on Facebook they contacted the recruitment agent, speaking multiple times to find out the details before signing up.
But within a day of arriving in Cambodia’s casino capital Sihanoukville, their hopes were crushed.
They found themselves locked in a crowded compound, tricked into handing over their phones and passports, and working for a Chinese-run investment scam.
Over several months they tried to leave and raise the alarm. They say they were either tortured, threatened with torture, or forced to watch other people being tortured.
“I was so afraid I wouldn’t see my kids again,” Nokyoong told the ABC.
“I was afraid that I would be killed over there, I saw how they beat people.”
With Nokyoong’s three children, all aged under 10, back in Thailand with her aunty and relying on the money they had hoped to send home, the cousins were desperate to get out.
Little did they know, they were among thousands of vulnerable workers across South-East Asia lured by human traffickers into the murky web of online scams.
Inside the call centre scam
As soon as they got to their new workplace, Nokyoong and Neung (whose names the ABC has changed…
